Impact of Contemporary Issues and Trends on Travel & Tourism

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of contemporary issues and trends within the travel and tourism sector. It examines the impact of factors such as security concerns, technological advancements, environmental awareness, and economic conditions on the industry. The report analyzes specific trends like all-inclusive hotels, specialist tour operators, and the rise of weekend and short breaks. A case study of Costa Rica's ecotourism initiatives is included, highlighting its impact on job creation and environmental preservation. The report further discusses the responses of travel and tourism businesses to these changes and the potential consequences of failing to adapt to market shifts. Desklib provides access to this document along with a wealth of study resources for students.

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
LO 1: Understand current issues in the travel and tourism sector...................................................4
1.1 Analyse issues currently driving change in the travel and tourism sector.................................4
1.2 Analyse different current issues using appropriate methods and resources..............................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
LO2: Understand current trends in the travel and tourism sector....................................................6
2.1 Evaluate current trends influencing change in the travel and tourism sector............................6
2.2. Analyse a current trend using appropriate techniques and resources.......................................7
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
LO 4: Understand the impacts of change on the travel and tourism sector.....................................9
4.1 Analyse the impacts of issues and trends that drive change in the travel and tourism sector...9
4.2 Discuss the likely consequences of businesses failing to respond to market change................9
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................11
LO3: Understand how the travel and tourism sector responds to change....................................11
3.1 Analyze how travel and tourism businesses could respond to change....................................11
3.2- Develop strategies on how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to change.
.......................................................................................................................................................11
3.3 Justify strategies for how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to change.. .11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
The tourism industry has shown tremendous growth since its institution in the 20th century with
the development of airplanes and automobiles, which instigated people to travel to various places
of interest. The businesses in the tourism industry have generated employment opportunities as
well as contributed in the economic growth of the country. The assignment has been conducted
for gaining an understanding of the present trends and issues prevailing in the travel and tourism
industry, to identify the ways in which travel and tourism industry have responded towards the
present trends and issues. The assignment will reflect the impact of these changes on the
different business sectors operating within the travel and tourism industry.
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Task 1
LO 1: Understand current issues in the travel and tourism sector
1.1 Analyse issues currently driving change in the travel and tourism sector
1.2 Analyse different current issues using appropriate methods and resources
The travel and tourism industry and its business operations have been affected by various factors
like level of security, technology, economy, legislation, low cost travel, level of environmental
awareness and entry and growth of new markets. In order to understand the impact of these
factors, the research company has analysed four of these factors by collecting necessary data
with the help of secondary resources like company reports, journals, newspaper articles and
others. The collected data has been studied and the derived results have been presented below to
understand the manner in which these issues are driving change in the tourism sector.
 Security- The term security refers to the arrangement being made in the travel and tourism
sector for the protection of community from any kind threat. With the increase in the
number of tourism activities, the level of security has also increased and has proved to a
challenge for the local government of the tourist location. High rate of disposable income
has increased the rate of tourism activities every year. However, social security and the high
rate of terrorism activities have declined the rate of tourist activities on both international
and domestic tourism (Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017, 2018). Every
country has its own rules, laws, regulations and procedures for the safety and protection of
its domestic and international tourists.
 Technology- The advancement in the field of technology has changed the dimension of the
tourism industry, bringing improvement in the quality of services rendered to customers in
the tourism industry. To give an example, the aviation and hospitality companies have been
able to offer their customers the opportunity of advance reservations and bookings through
technological growth. In case of hospitality, resorts and hotels have utilized technological
advancements in improving their services, making additions in their services, thereby
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increasing the satisfaction level of the tourists (Digitalcommons.unl.edu, 2018). The online
platform has offered the travel and tourism industry in expansion of their business
operations, attracting visitors from all corners of the world. Search engines and social media
platforms have a major role to play in this. With the help of these tools, visitors are able to
discover different tourists’ destination and spots, research about them, based on which they
undertake their decisions related to vacation plans. In his way, Technology has helped the
travellers in getting a virtual tour of the place before visiting it. The tour agencies, operators,
and hotels have been able to increase their sales figures and create a positive impact on the
traveller’s minds.
 Environmental awareness- Another factor driving change in the travel and tourism sector is
the increase in the level of environmental awareness. The travel and tourism businesses have
to ensure that they do not cause any kind of harm to the nature through their business
activities. In order to encourage environmental awareness, a new trend of green tourism has
evolved where the safety and protection of the community and environment is promoted
through tourism activities. Each of the elements operating within the travel and tourism
industry, like the tourists, the tour operators and agencies, aviation industries have played an
active role in generating awareness about environment protection. For this, natural resources
are being optimally utilized, the generated waste being properly dumped and others
(Umich.edu, 2018). Increase in the travel and tourism industry has increased the rate of
pollution through their activities. To give an example, large amount of carbon is emitted
through the fleets of the aviation industry, but companies have taken CSR initiatives and
tried to make use of renewable energy resources, better flights, greener fuels, to decrease
their rate of carbon emissions.
 Economy- The companies operating within the travel and tourism industry are taking
initiatives to get an understanding of how to respond and deal with the growth of sharing
economy. Few of the companies are responding by focusing on capitalization whereas few
of them have shown defensive response. The economy of the nation has a direct role to play
on the travel and tourism industry. As the travel and tourism industry contributes in the
economic development of the country, helps in generating revenue for the nation, the
government of different nations has taken initiatives to promote the industry (Sharpley and
Telfer, 2015). The economic structure and interdependency level of various sectors of the
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economy have a direct impact on the travel and tourism business. The size of tourism
operations depends on the size of the economy.
Task 2
LO2: Understand current trends in the travel and tourism sector
2.1 Evaluate current trends influencing change in the travel and tourism sector.
Recently, the travel and tourism industry has been witnessed to the trend of niche markets and
various pricing methods used by the companies for selling their products and services. However,
apart from these two trends, few other trends have also emerged out that have affected the travel
and tourism, like all inclusive hotels, specialist operators and weekend and short breaks. An
analysis of these changes has been presented below:
 All-inclusive hotels- An all-inclusive hotel or resort refers to a holiday resort that offers a
minimum of three meals in a day, soft and alcoholic drinks, gratuities and other services at a
minimum lodging and price possible. Few of these hotels and resorts also offer sport
activities like non-motorized watersports and others. The trend of all-inclusive hotels and
resorts has brought a change in the demands and requirements of the tourists as they have
been developed specifically for selected tourist spots. In addition, these cater separately to
the needs of travellers, some deal only with couples while some cater to serve families by
including services like games rooms, craft centres, water parks, and others (Hall, 2010).
 Specialist operators- A tour operator is responsible for combining the various elements of
the travel and tour for creation of package holiday. A specialist operator is a tour operator
dealing with niche products and markets only. They either focus on specific activities or the
travelling activity in a geographic location or are involved in designing of specific type of
holidays (Croy, 2010). These operators do not compete on the basis of price factors; prefer
small tour groups and regular flights over charter flights. These operators are preferred by
large number of travellers as they offer personal service and have expert knowledge
regarding the tourist spot.
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 Weekend and short breaks- The weekend and short breaks refer to a very short holiday,
generally 1-3 days spent on weekends or other days within the city. The trend of these breaks
has recently increased for the purpose of leisure and relaxation or for taking a small break
from the regular hectic schedules (Mariani et al., 2014) These range from guided excursions,
beach breaks, hiking, or other activities. They have positively affected the travel and tourism
industry by creating demand in the off seasons and increasing tourism activities in the less
travelled areas, thereby helping in their economic growth.
2.2. Analyse a current trend using appropriate techniques and resources
Introduction
The report presented will be analysing the trends of eco-tourism and environmental awareness
on the travel and tourism sector with reference to the tourist location, Costa Rica.
Part 1
The term ecotourism refers to an alternative form of tourism, which focuses on acquiring
economic growth and development of the place in accordance with the preservation of the
natural resource of the place (Kerlinger et al., 2013). The concept of ecotourism came into
existence due to the adverse impact of mass number of tourists, on the environment. In order to
overcome this and following the trend of increasing environmental awareness, the region of
Costa Rica has implemented the practice of ecotourism in their nation. A developing country,
Costa Rica has been able to benefit itself by encouraging ecotourism, the increase in revenue
generated from its tourists activities have shown significant increase since the time it adopted
this approach. There has been tremendous increase in the number of international travellers
visiting Costa Rica for long stays. The visitors to Costa Rica travel to the place for the enjoying
the serenity of the place and the natural beauty.
Earlier, before the practice of ecotourism, the government of the region was criticized for lack of
environmental policies, resulting is large-scale deforestation at the place. With pressure to
safeguard the biodiversity of the place, the government collaborated with international
environmental organizations like World Conservation Union (IUCN) to protect the Costa Rica
environment. By creating national parks, protected zones and reserves, the government was able
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to preserve its natural environment as well as attract large number of tourists. Currently, the
country holds the fifth position across the globe and the first position in America with respect to
the Environmental Performance Index (Wttc.org, 2018).
Part 2
In order to benefit from the ecotourism activities at a continuous rate, the Costa Rican authorities
have developed a framework to meet the increasing demands and to practice ecotourism in a
sustainable manner. With better management of the activities by continuously monitoring them,
evaluating and implementing them in a systematic manner. The government and other authorities
have taken initiatives to identify the impact of ecotourism on the cultural lifestyles so that
negative impacts can be mitigated. To improve the eco-parks, authorities have decided to
increase the funding available to them so that the parks can be well maintained. For this, e new
system has been developed where the foreign tourists are charged higher prices. Stringent laws
have been developed to ensure that high rate of tourism does not degrade the quality of parks.
For this, fixed number of tourists is allowed to enter the parks along with the training guides
(Msu.edu, 2018).
Part 3
With an increase in ecotourism and environmental awareness in Costa Rica has helped in
expanding job opportunities for the localities of the place. The local citizens have been able to
generate income, both at local and national levels through employment, with almost double of
their previous incomes (Cf.cdn.unwto.org, 2018). In addition to this, the local communities and
schools have been able to receive large amount of donations and investments. This helped in
raising their living standards.
Conclusion
The report has highlighted the impact of ecotourism and environmental awareness within the
region of Costa Rica.
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Task 3
LO 4: Understand the impacts of change on the travel and tourism sector
4.1 Analyse the impacts of issues and trends that drive change in the travel and tourism
sector
The impact of four trends, namely environmental awareness, technology, all-inclusive hotels
and weekends and short breaks have analyzed below:
 Impact on business- Technological advancement has helped in expansion of business as
well as made execution of business operations easier. It helps in marketing of tourism
packages and has decreased the cost of operations. All-inclusive hotels and weekends and
short breaks is a new trend that has helped tour businesses in introducing a new product and
service for the travelers. Environmental awareness has further helped in increasing the
sustainability of their operations (Wachowiak, 2016). Impact on products and services- The quality of services has improved and the process has
become faster. New products and services are being offered to travelers, thereby giving
them new travelling experience.
 Impact on employment levels- With increase in business operations and introduction of new
services, there has been an increase in the employment opportunities (Giaoutzi, 2017).
4.2 Discuss the likely consequences of businesses failing to respond to market change
A travel and tourism business failing to respond to the current changes and market trends will
have to deal with the following consequences:
 Decrease in sales volumes- Failure to design strategies in accordance with the current trends
will adversely affect the sales volume of the business organizations.
 Decrease in profit rate-By not adapting to the market changes, the tour companies fail to
meet the demands of the customers, resulting a decrease in sale numbers and further
decrease in profits.
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 Decrease in customer base- The customer satisfaction level decreases if the businesses do
not comply with the current issues and trends. As a result, they find alternative goods and
services and opt for other organizations, resulting in loss of customers (Bizirgianni and
Dionysopoulou, 2013).
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Task 4
LO3: Understand how the travel and tourism sector responds to change
3.1 Analyze how travel and tourism businesses could respond to change.
3.2- Develop strategies on how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to
change.
3.3 Justify strategies for how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to
change.
Introduction
The report has analyzed the current situation of a tour operator named Thomas Cook and their
response towards the current changes and trends in tour industry.
Part 1
A PEST analysis and SWOT analysis has been conducted below:
Political Thomas Cook has to comply with the current rules and regulations of the US
government, tax rates, wages legislations, anti-trust laws related to tourism and
others.
Economical The infrastructure and high economic growth has helped in offering quality
services and products to the customers.
Social While executing its services, it needs to comply with the cultural beliefs of,
attitudes of the customers.
Technological Technological advancement has helped in offering better services, decreased its
operational costs and increased the product portfolio.
Table 1-PEST analysis of Thomas Cook
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